5 ms·

This is a bit disturbing to read as someone who had perceptual distortions in my late teens. I always attributed it to HPPD after using LSD around 15 years old

This is a bit disturbing to read as someone who had perceptual distortions in my late teens. I always attributed it to HPPD after using LSD around 15 years old. Now I'm not so sure.

ImuMotive 5y ago
I get a world tilting thing maybe once a year. Usually while falling asleep. I also sometimes get this weird perceptual thing where objects look huge, again, normally while in a dark room. I've also had odd sensations that accompany these perceptual changes. All of these occur very rarely. Like I said, maybe twice a year, but closer to once per year. I can't find it now, but I had learned about seizure activity and how you can experience one without really knowing it, things just might get wonky like your perception, feelings, smells, etc.
- SavantIdiot 5y ago
  Sounds like vertigo maybe? Does it feel like someone tilted the floor and there's no "up"? Followed by sweating and vomiting and 48 hours of headaches? (Source: I get it a few times a year.)
  - ImuMotive 5y ago
    None of that, it just looks like the floor is tilted forward. It doesn't feel like it though. It's a very odd visual distortion. I noticed while at the eye doctor when testing different lenses I guess he could recreate the feeling by using incorrect magnification on one eye? Making my brain thing the room is tilted left or right. Unrelated, anybody ever feel like they lost consciousness for 250ms? Super rare, but I get the feeling that I feel asleep and all my muscles went limp in that moment. It's like when you are falling asleep and you sometimes jerk yourself back awake.
    - fzzzy 5y ago
      See another comment on this post about Hypnic Jerk.
- meowface 5y ago
  >I get a world tilting thing maybe once a year. Usually while falling asleep. I think this is very common and occasionally experienced by most people, including myself. Typically when you're on the border between being awake and falling asleep. >I also sometimes get this weird perceptual thing where objects look huge, again, normally while in a dark room. Haven't experienced this one, but perceptual distortions in a dark environment shouldn't be a concern, I think. I definitely get thrown off sometimes. It's natural, since your brain is constantly trying to predict what should be there, and ambiguous signals due to limited light can throw a wrench into that, especially if you're not habituated to the light conditions. >I've also had odd sensations that accompany these perceptual changes. Could there be a nocebo effect? After learning about seizure auras, it's possible that when these things happen, you might enter a brief positive feedback loop where aura-like things could psychogenically manifest. Was this also the case before you learned about such things?
  - EamonnMR 5y ago
    The name for what you're talking about is Hypnic Jerk https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnic_jerk https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnic_jerk
    - meowface 5y ago
      I was going to mention that, but I'm actually not 100% sure if it's the same thing. Maybe it is? Either way, I definitely occasionally experience hypnic jerks and sudden vertigo-ish feelings when I'm right on the edge of falling asleep.
    - klipt 5y ago
      Also a great name for a person who wakes you up just as you're trying to fall asleep. "You, you hypnic jerk!"
- pjerem 5y ago
  > I also sometimes get this weird perceptual thing where objects look huge, again, normally while in a dark room. Does this happen in total black ? I sometimes (really rarely, like once or twice a year) have a strange « feeling » at night while in my bed without any source of light : I can distinctively see the objects around me. The twist is : I’m heavily myopic and even with my glasses (which I don’t wear at night) I can’t see anything in the darkness. So there is no way I could distinctly see things with their contours in the darkness. It only happened in places I know, so I can’t know if my brain is making my bedroom up or if I really see something, or if it’s a combination.
  - ImuMotive 5y ago
    Won't happen in total darkness. Also, it's happened in full daylight. Like all the sudden someones head just looks absolutely massive, like I've lost the ability to perceive size. I find the effect pleasurable so I kinda zone out and let it happen. Otherwise I can snap myself out of it pretty quickly.
  - loves_mangoes 5y ago
    I've had an object appear huge once (right after an LSD trip), so might as well share my anecdote. For me it was in a dark environment (bedroom), but I was looking at my phone, without glasses, and holding it pretty close to my eyes (I'm also heavily myopic) so that it occupied maybe ~60% of my field of vision. The "picture" I had in my field of vision never changed, the "pixels" (though I don't think there is such a thing) did not change. But suddenly my phone was this giant monolith just above my head. Consciously I could clearly tell this was a hallucination, but the dissonance of having this seemingly suddenly huge object held right above my head was really unsettling to me, a bit scary even. I'm so used to not questioning how my sense of scale pretty much always matches what I see, it never occurred to me my instinct could be fooled by this wide a margin while consciously seeing that everything was normal. But on the other hand, I can't say I've really ever had an unusually distinctive awareness of objects like you describe.
- layoutIfNeeded 5y ago
  >I also sometimes get this weird perceptual thing where objects look huge, again, normally while in a dark room https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_in_Wonderland_syndrome https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_in_Wonderland_syndrome
- bamboo2 5y ago
  Migraine. You needn’t have a headache either. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2289227/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2289227/
- soared 5y ago
  FWIW the objects looking large is talked about quite a bit by epileptics and can be a ‘focal awareness seizure’. I got these as a kid and my family has a history of epilepsy but I’ve never had an adverse affect. https://epilepsysociety.org.uk/about-epilepsy/epileptic-seizures/focal-aware-seizures https://epilepsysociety.org.uk/about-epilepsy/epileptic-seiz...
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- iammisc 5y ago
  The distortions while falling asleep is sleep paralysis. There's nothing weird about this. Every once in a while, i'll have this and there's an entity in my room. Once, everything in my room flew and the world 'cracked'. It's just a waking dream. Wiggle your toes, and things will go back to normal. Toes still work when the delusion sets in because it takes time for the hormone that causes bodily paralysis to get to your toes, and when the brain notices you moving your body, it wakes back up.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- BizarroLand 5y ago
  Back when I smoked cigarettes I could tell I had smoked to much because I would get Alice in Wonderland Syndrome. I would feel like my bed was rotating in the world, my head would feel like it was too big for the room or that my feet would be dozens of meters away from me. I thought I was going crazy for a while until I found out what it was.
meowface 5y ago
HPPD would definitely be a major confounder, here. I really wouldn't be worried. If it's been many years since it happened and you haven't ever experienced anything that seems like it could be psychosis, then it very likely isn't something to be concerned about, I think.
colechristensen 5y ago
They seem to be lumping things together pretty widely which is a disservice to people like you. A bit of hallucinating here and there is quite common especially as you age and isn't a big deal (though if it happens suddenly go see a doctor, it can be a symptom of something happening), being unable to determine what is and is not real can be quite a problem.
- anyfoo 5y ago
  Can you elaborate a bit? I don't remember hallucinating when growing up[1], so I'm interested what this would look like. I don't doubt that it may still be common without everyone experiencing it. [1] Or ever, really, unless fever dreams when being really sick count. Though, without any reference point to compare to, they really seemed more like intense dreams.
  - throwuxiytayq 5y ago
    I consider myself to be a very mentally-stable person, but I have encountered occasional hallucination-like experiences. They're very brief, and my brain seems to correct itself retroactively, which makes them somewhat difficult to notice. For example, a soft noise could be vividly interpreted as someone calling my name, but when it becomes apparent that this didn't happen, my brain files the experience as "probably misheard something", and my attention is immediately diverted. Supposedly smell hallucinations are pretty common too. These are hard to recall because they're so unremarkable. It's difficult to tell these things from common daily "mistakes", but is there really a difference except in effect size?
    - meowface 5y ago
      Yes, these are quite common. I believe persistent, full-on visual hallucinations tend to be rare among the general population, assuming you're sober and not sleep deprived or in a half-asleep state or in the process of waking up.
    - BrianOnHN 5y ago
      This, and similarly Déjà vu, both happen to me too, very occasionally. I definitely also see a correlation with times I'm significantly fatigued, for example after being awake for 20 hours during a multi-day fast.
iammisc 5y ago
One single dose of LSD can cause permanent psychosis, so this is not surprising. This is why drugs like LSD need to be absolutely banned. They can turn functioning people into permanently non-functioning ones. It is an incredibly dangerous drug.
- valec 5y ago
  no, it's not. best estimates (admittedly poor) put the incidence around 1/50,000 for frequent users. considering the potential mental health uses and the extremely low toxicity (i'm not sure anybody has ever overdosed on lsd) banning psychedelics would be a huge mistake. and > They can turn functioning people into permanently non-functioning ones. It is an incredibly dangerous drug. applies to legal drugs too. alcohol for example. or painkillers or benzos.
  - iammisc 5y ago
    One drink of alcohol is unlikely to lead you to become unstable. I don't know about the others. I didn't call for a blanket ban. LSD may have therapeutic uses (other debilitating drugs like paracetamol do), but the self-dosing that people do 'for fun' shouldn't be tolerated.
    - scollet 5y ago
      You called for a blanket ban.
      - iammisc 5y ago
        Sorry, I figured doctor prescriptions were not included. My view is that they should be a controlled substance, the way they are now. You'd have to show amazing cognitive effects for an illness to legalize it for prescription. I don't know the science here though. By 'absolute ban' I mean they should be controlled, and classified as an illegal drug. This is not something people should self-medicate. Those using without a prescription or worse, distributing, should be jailed.
- 5y ago

This is a bit disturbing to read as someone who had perceptual distortions in my late teens. I always attributed it to HPPD after using LSD around 15 years old. Now I'm not so sure.

ImuMotive 5y ago

I get a world tilting thing maybe once a year. Usually while falling asleep. I also sometimes get this weird perceptual thing where objects look huge, again, normally while in a dark room. I've also had odd sensations that accompany these perceptual changes. All of these occur very rarely. Like I said, maybe twice a year, but closer to once per year. I can't find it now, but I had learned about seizure activity and how you can experience one without really knowing it, things just might get wonky like your perception, feelings, smells, etc.

SavantIdiot 5y ago
Sounds like vertigo maybe? Does it feel like someone tilted the floor and there's no "up"? Followed by sweating and vomiting and 48 hours of headaches? (Source: I get it a few times a year.)
- ImuMotive 5y ago
  None of that, it just looks like the floor is tilted forward. It doesn't feel like it though. It's a very odd visual distortion. I noticed while at the eye doctor when testing different lenses I guess he could recreate the feeling by using incorrect magnification on one eye? Making my brain thing the room is tilted left or right. Unrelated, anybody ever feel like they lost consciousness for 250ms? Super rare, but I get the feeling that I feel asleep and all my muscles went limp in that moment. It's like when you are falling asleep and you sometimes jerk yourself back awake.
  - fzzzy 5y ago
    See another comment on this post about Hypnic Jerk.
meowface 5y ago
>I get a world tilting thing maybe once a year. Usually while falling asleep. I think this is very common and occasionally experienced by most people, including myself. Typically when you're on the border between being awake and falling asleep. >I also sometimes get this weird perceptual thing where objects look huge, again, normally while in a dark room. Haven't experienced this one, but perceptual distortions in a dark environment shouldn't be a concern, I think. I definitely get thrown off sometimes. It's natural, since your brain is constantly trying to predict what should be there, and ambiguous signals due to limited light can throw a wrench into that, especially if you're not habituated to the light conditions. >I've also had odd sensations that accompany these perceptual changes. Could there be a nocebo effect? After learning about seizure auras, it's possible that when these things happen, you might enter a brief positive feedback loop where aura-like things could psychogenically manifest. Was this also the case before you learned about such things?
- EamonnMR 5y ago
  The name for what you're talking about is Hypnic Jerk https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnic_jerk https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnic_jerk
  - meowface 5y ago
    I was going to mention that, but I'm actually not 100% sure if it's the same thing. Maybe it is? Either way, I definitely occasionally experience hypnic jerks and sudden vertigo-ish feelings when I'm right on the edge of falling asleep.
  - klipt 5y ago
    Also a great name for a person who wakes you up just as you're trying to fall asleep. "You, you hypnic jerk!"
pjerem 5y ago
> I also sometimes get this weird perceptual thing where objects look huge, again, normally while in a dark room. Does this happen in total black ? I sometimes (really rarely, like once or twice a year) have a strange « feeling » at night while in my bed without any source of light : I can distinctively see the objects around me. The twist is : I’m heavily myopic and even with my glasses (which I don’t wear at night) I can’t see anything in the darkness. So there is no way I could distinctly see things with their contours in the darkness. It only happened in places I know, so I can’t know if my brain is making my bedroom up or if I really see something, or if it’s a combination.
- ImuMotive 5y ago
  Won't happen in total darkness. Also, it's happened in full daylight. Like all the sudden someones head just looks absolutely massive, like I've lost the ability to perceive size. I find the effect pleasurable so I kinda zone out and let it happen. Otherwise I can snap myself out of it pretty quickly.
- loves_mangoes 5y ago
  I've had an object appear huge once (right after an LSD trip), so might as well share my anecdote. For me it was in a dark environment (bedroom), but I was looking at my phone, without glasses, and holding it pretty close to my eyes (I'm also heavily myopic) so that it occupied maybe ~60% of my field of vision. The "picture" I had in my field of vision never changed, the "pixels" (though I don't think there is such a thing) did not change. But suddenly my phone was this giant monolith just above my head. Consciously I could clearly tell this was a hallucination, but the dissonance of having this seemingly suddenly huge object held right above my head was really unsettling to me, a bit scary even. I'm so used to not questioning how my sense of scale pretty much always matches what I see, it never occurred to me my instinct could be fooled by this wide a margin while consciously seeing that everything was normal. But on the other hand, I can't say I've really ever had an unusually distinctive awareness of objects like you describe.
layoutIfNeeded 5y ago
>I also sometimes get this weird perceptual thing where objects look huge, again, normally while in a dark room https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_in_Wonderland_syndrome https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_in_Wonderland_syndrome
bamboo2 5y ago
Migraine. You needn’t have a headache either. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2289227/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2289227/
soared 5y ago
FWIW the objects looking large is talked about quite a bit by epileptics and can be a ‘focal awareness seizure’. I got these as a kid and my family has a history of epilepsy but I’ve never had an adverse affect. https://epilepsysociety.org.uk/about-epilepsy/epileptic-seizures/focal-aware-seizures https://epilepsysociety.org.uk/about-epilepsy/epileptic-seiz...
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
iammisc 5y ago
The distortions while falling asleep is sleep paralysis. There's nothing weird about this. Every once in a while, i'll have this and there's an entity in my room. Once, everything in my room flew and the world 'cracked'. It's just a waking dream. Wiggle your toes, and things will go back to normal. Toes still work when the delusion sets in because it takes time for the hormone that causes bodily paralysis to get to your toes, and when the brain notices you moving your body, it wakes back up.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
BizarroLand 5y ago
Back when I smoked cigarettes I could tell I had smoked to much because I would get Alice in Wonderland Syndrome. I would feel like my bed was rotating in the world, my head would feel like it was too big for the room or that my feet would be dozens of meters away from me. I thought I was going crazy for a while until I found out what it was.

meowface 5y ago

HPPD would definitely be a major confounder, here. I really wouldn't be worried. If it's been many years since it happened and you haven't ever experienced anything that seems like it could be psychosis, then it very likely isn't something to be concerned about, I think.

colechristensen 5y ago

They seem to be lumping things together pretty widely which is a disservice to people like you. A bit of hallucinating here and there is quite common especially as you age and isn't a big deal (though if it happens suddenly go see a doctor, it can be a symptom of something happening), being unable to determine what is and is not real can be quite a problem.

anyfoo 5y ago
Can you elaborate a bit? I don't remember hallucinating when growing up[1], so I'm interested what this would look like. I don't doubt that it may still be common without everyone experiencing it. [1] Or ever, really, unless fever dreams when being really sick count. Though, without any reference point to compare to, they really seemed more like intense dreams.
- throwuxiytayq 5y ago
  I consider myself to be a very mentally-stable person, but I have encountered occasional hallucination-like experiences. They're very brief, and my brain seems to correct itself retroactively, which makes them somewhat difficult to notice. For example, a soft noise could be vividly interpreted as someone calling my name, but when it becomes apparent that this didn't happen, my brain files the experience as "probably misheard something", and my attention is immediately diverted. Supposedly smell hallucinations are pretty common too. These are hard to recall because they're so unremarkable. It's difficult to tell these things from common daily "mistakes", but is there really a difference except in effect size?
  - meowface 5y ago
    Yes, these are quite common. I believe persistent, full-on visual hallucinations tend to be rare among the general population, assuming you're sober and not sleep deprived or in a half-asleep state or in the process of waking up.
  - BrianOnHN 5y ago
    This, and similarly Déjà vu, both happen to me too, very occasionally. I definitely also see a correlation with times I'm significantly fatigued, for example after being awake for 20 hours during a multi-day fast.

iammisc 5y ago

One single dose of LSD can cause permanent psychosis, so this is not surprising. This is why drugs like LSD need to be absolutely banned. They can turn functioning people into permanently non-functioning ones. It is an incredibly dangerous drug.

valec 5y ago
no, it's not. best estimates (admittedly poor) put the incidence around 1/50,000 for frequent users. considering the potential mental health uses and the extremely low toxicity (i'm not sure anybody has ever overdosed on lsd) banning psychedelics would be a huge mistake. and > They can turn functioning people into permanently non-functioning ones. It is an incredibly dangerous drug. applies to legal drugs too. alcohol for example. or painkillers or benzos.
- iammisc 5y ago
  One drink of alcohol is unlikely to lead you to become unstable. I don't know about the others. I didn't call for a blanket ban. LSD may have therapeutic uses (other debilitating drugs like paracetamol do), but the self-dosing that people do 'for fun' shouldn't be tolerated.
  - scollet 5y ago
    You called for a blanket ban.
    - iammisc 5y ago
      Sorry, I figured doctor prescriptions were not included. My view is that they should be a controlled substance, the way they are now. You'd have to show amazing cognitive effects for an illness to legalize it for prescription. I don't know the science here though. By 'absolute ban' I mean they should be controlled, and classified as an illegal drug. This is not something people should self-medicate. Those using without a prescription or worse, distributing, should be jailed.
5y ago